April 25…Teaches You A Lot

“It will take a lap or 2 and I will get running again.”

Greg Ellis is typical in many ways of all the runners out here competing in the Self Transcendence races.

At the moment he is moving slowly, a pace just a notch up from amble but not quite power walking.  He has however been on the course for much of the past 2 days and has just come off a break.  But what he also has to deal with in addition to cold windy New York weather is the fact that just 2 years ago he had a hip replaced.  A fact that he does not embellish or say in order to draw sympathy.

“When I go long mileage it gets inflamed and starts to affect everything else down my leg.”

flower-sun

Gregg lives in Georgia and this is his first trip to New York.  Earlier I had joked with him about site seeing instead of running for 6 days.  He confesses now, “Earlier this morning there was a lot more things that looked more interesting.  I had a low point.  Then the sun started coming up and I started feeling better.”

“I expect that.   You get extreme highs and lows in these kind of events.  I was used to it and ready for it.  They can be tough sometimes.”

Gregg says that by learning to overcome the kind of adversity he experiences in multi day racing he tries to transfer to other life experiences.

Gregg-3

“Ultra races definitely teach you a lot about yourself.  You learn that you can go beyond things that you once thought were impossible, and things you couldn’t even fathom.  I can do a lot more than I think I can do.  It is very empowering when you finish one of these races.”

We talk about the older runners in the race.  “They are an inspiration to me.”

Gregg says the experience he is having here is quite different than any other race he has taken part in.  “It is amazing.  You can feel, the love, the warmth, and the peace here. It is just a whole different feeling.  It is a perfect title for it…Self Transcendence.”

Click To Play Interview:

Other runners included….John Geesler, Shirley Kolakovich, Wai Law, Rimas Jakelaitis, Mahasatya Janczak, and Steven Battle

https://vimeo.com/126017719

Dipali leads all in the 6 day race with 178 miles.

dipali-wide

It is sunny but quite windy out on the course.  Wai Law has already run further than ever before in this his first 6 day race.

wai2

Vasuprada gets some inspiration from a friendly visit.

vasuprada-and-tajini

Sylvie has 108 miles

sulvie

Shamita is in 2nd place with 383 miles

shamita

Sarah made 400 miles for 6 days and leads the entire field. No surprise that on this busy Saturday she is attracting some attention.

sarah-and-fans

Race data supplied by Medur

medur

On the weekend the park attracts lots of visitors.

park-people

Sara

sara

John Geesler working hard as always.

“We will have a good race yet. There is plenty of time.”

john-tree

Sergei taking a tiger break.

sergei

Some poems in the camp

poem

Work going on.

back-sink

The Palash band entertaining the runners and a few others.

Click to Play:

Palash

Palash-band

Having fun.

padyatra

Misha getting some advice.

misha-good

Ananda-Lahari with 349 miles

banner-ananda-lahari

Vajra working the massage table.

medical

Nina getting her healing leaves ready.

medical-nina

Mark Dorion taking a micro break

markd

Mark McCaslin moving fast today.

mark

This is a film made 10 years ago and is a tribute to the great Luis Rios whose birthday is today.

Click to Play:….Across The Runiverse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvYZkgHhZ4w

Manoshri has 296 miles

manoshri

It is hard sometimes to keep things in perspective.

janos-tower

Numbers on the board you might always wish were bigger.

board

Harita getting some shoe advice.

Harita

Gundega

gundega

Gudrun

gudrun

Petals falling

flower

Georgs getting a massage

georgs-massage

He has 349 miles.

georgs

Gautami

gautami

Ed Rousseau tuning up his tootsies….He has 118 miles after 2 days and is still chasing Don.

ed-medical2

Don has 122 miles but it is definitely going to be a close race.

don

Taking a break

camp2Michel

michel

 

Gio the dog getting a lot of attention.

dog

Aidas coming around the circle

flower-aidas

Aidas had the most mileage of the men yesterday.  He is 4th with 366.

aidas

Atmavir feeling the affects of a cold.

atmavir

By the lake

flower2

Tiredness

girl

Counters

counters

Albena

albenaBudding trees

flower4

 

Bigalita just doing a few laps for fun

bigalitaHaving fun

gautami-harita

 

Giribhu

giribhu

 

A new day will soon begin

flower-clock

Let the future sleep!
Let the present teach you
How you can see God
And become another God.

 

flower-mark

2 thoughts on “April 25…Teaches You A Lot”

  1. Great picture of Ed Rousseau! Thanks for excellent reports as always, Utpal. PLEASE say hello to Gudrun from me. Its her birthday around these days.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *